Aetna

Aetna is a major U.S. health insurer, now part of CVS Health, with roots in a 19th-century Hartford insurance company.

The quick read Reason for concern Reviewed Aug 24, 2026

The quick snapshot

Public concern on the record.

These are summaries, not scores. Open every receipt before deciding.

Public concern

Why people pushed back

Aetna acknowledged writing a small number of life policies for slave owners in the 1850s that reimbursed owners when enslaved people died. In March 2000 it publicly apologized after activist Deadria Farmer-Paellmann pressed the company, and said no further reparations were planned.

Company apology (slave policies)
March 2000: Aetna apologized for slave-era life policiesAssociated Press reported Aetna apologized for selling policies in the 1850s that reimbursed slave owners when enslaved people died. Spokesman Fred Laberge said the company deeply regretted any participation in the practice and that records showed no more than about a dozen such policies. The apology followed an inquiry from Deadria Farmer-Paellmann seeking apology and reparations.Source: Los Angeles Times (AP) ↗
No reparations (company statement)
Company said it would not pay reparationsAP reported Aetna said the policies were legal before abolition and that it planned no reparations—“no further actions are required at this time,” Laberge said. That is a company refusal of financial redress, not a court order.Source: New Haven Register (AP) ↗

Aug 24, 2026 · The Cookout Editorial Desk

Aetna apologized for insuring enslaved people’s lives for their owners

BLUF

In 2000 Aetna apologized for selling 1850s policies that paid slaveholders when enslaved people died, and said it would not pay reparations.

What happened

In March 2000 Aetna publicly apologized for writing life insurance in the 1850s that paid slaveholders when enslaved people died. Associated Press coverage quoted spokesman Fred Laberge: the company deeply regretted any participation in that “deplorable practice,” said records showed roughly a dozen such policies, and said the company would not pay reparations. The apology followed pressure from Deadria Farmer-Paellmann.

The Cookout read

Concern. An insurer that once treated Black lives as property to be indemnified for white owners is a slavery-economy receipt. An apology without reparations is still an apology—and still not a modern civil-rights settlement. This file will not invent a payout Aetna said it would not make.

Open the primary source ↗

Now / update

Where the record stands.

Last reviewed Aug 24, 2026. This is present-day status, not a new verdict.

Dated items opened here are the sourced Black-specific receipts in this file.

Last reviewed August 24, 2026.

Source file

Open the full passages.

Links may change after publication. Dates describe the event or publication listed in the record.

01
Los Angeles Times (AP)
March 2000: Aetna apologized for slave-era life policies · Mar 9, 2000
Read source ↗
02
New Haven Register (AP)
Company said it would not pay reparations · Mar 10, 2000
Read source ↗

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